Max Verstappen won the Mexican Grand Prix but the day belonged to Lewis Hamilton as the British driver secured his fifth world title despite finishing only fourth in the race.
Sebastian Vettel, who needed to win the race to maintain his slender hopes of catching Hamilton, came second so with two races left the title race is over.
Mercedes star Hamilton becomes only the third driver in history after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher to claim five championships, and Schumacher’s haul of seven is now be within reach.
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His greatest season yet
Basking in glory after the race, Hamilton said “I’ve performed at my best this year”, and Andrew Benson of the BBC agrees.
“Hamilton’s achievement this year will surely go down as his greatest so far. He has maintained a level of excellence not only way out of reach of his only real rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, but at a consistency Hamilton himself has not achieved before.
“The scale of the accomplishment becomes clearer when one considers that he has brought the season to a premature close with two races to go despite not having the fastest car the majority of the time.
“The measure of a truly great driver is that he can take his equipment to places it has no right to go to, and which others cannot reach. In that, Hamilton has truly proven his mettle this year.”
And there’s more to come
Hamilton’s first title came ten years ago, but he is a very different animal now, says Nate Saunders of ESPN.
“The younger Hamilton was a conflicted, troubled soul, a man who did not seem to know his place in the world beyond the cockpit of a racing car. The one who arrived at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this year displayed the sort of composure we have come to expect from Hamilton since he started winning championships again.
“It is clear Hamilton has never been more comfortable about who he is and what he is doing inside and outside of a Formula One cockpit. Given the form he was able to produce for much of 2018 that should be an utterly terrifying prospect for any driver wanting to beat him to a world championship any time soon.”
An emotional day
As if to prove the point about his maturity, after the race Hamilton paid tribute to his grandfather, Davidson, who died earlier in the week.
Hamilton said it had been a “difficult weekend”, The Daily Telegraph reports, but added: “I never will forget the things that he did in order for me to be here today and for our family to thrive.”
Hamilton, who has the middle name Davidson, added: “I really do aspire to be like him, as a strong, black man and as a father and as a human being for doing what he did in the difficult times. with what little he had.”
But why are people turning off?
A decade on from Hamilton’s first title fewer people are watching F1, says Matt Dickinson of The Times. “Hamilton’s ability is beyond argument… [but] it still feels like every milestone feat prompts as much debate about whether he is properly appreciated.
“For various reasons, some of us captivated by those early years of Hamilton’s brilliance have found ourselves watching fewer and fewer races, which cannot be a healthy place for the sport to find itself when his story should be so compelling.”
Whatever you think of Hamilton, he should be “one of the best things to have happened to F1”, says Dickinson. “Not even those rivals who have clashed with Hamilton would dispute that he is one of the great drivers of all time, as he proved with that fifth title. So if these do not feel like the very best of times for F1, those in charge need to think long and hard about why.”
Challenges ahead
But as Hamilton eyes Schumacher’s record of seven titles, there are young pretenders in the wings joining the likes of Sebastian Vettel in offering a challenge.
Max Verstappen is the most obvious long-term successor to Hamilton, but the young Dutchman made it clear he was not prepared to play understudy for long.
“He [Hamilton] has been the most consistently strong driver all year and deserves the championship,” he said. “I’m sure it feels very special. Hopefully I can challenge him for it soon.”
